I recently stayed at a Hilton Hotel. The stay was very nice with no major complaints (larger selection of cable channels would be nice). Service and people were very professional. And then I get this email asking for a feedback from my experience:

Dear Isaac Bowman,

We were delighted to serve you during your recent stay at Hilton. We realize that you have a choice in hotel properties, and we appreciate your business.

As a valued HHonors member, your feedback is important to us. We invite you to take a few minutes to complete a survey about your stay at Hilton Houston/Westchase, where you checked out on October 12, 2006.

To view the survey, please click on the web address below. If that does not work, please copy and paste the entire web address into the address field of your browser.

http://hilton.medallia.com/H.pl?b=3&ID=1x9s4R7j2E8g5g2d&lang=eng

Your comments are very valuable to us, and we look forward to hearing about your stay with us.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Diskin
Senior Vice President - Brand Management
Hilton Hotels

So I decided to respond with my mostly positive thoughts. After all I enjoyed my visit. After something like 10 minutes of questioning I am only HALF WAY DONE! Really what idiot would think that they will get ANY kind of valuable comments or data from a survey that is 20 pages long!

The section on GUEST ROOM was 3 (three) pages long! Here are the 19 questions just for the ROOM:

1. Décor/furnishings of guest room
2. Cleanliness of guest room
3. Comfort of bed (mattress, cover, linens, pillows)
4. Condition of carpet
5. Guest room lighting
6. Quietness of guest room (outside noise/hall noise)
7. Heating/cooling/ventilation system worked properly
8. Room smelled fresh/clean
9. Working order of TV, remote, phone, clock radio, etc.
10. Ease of High Speed Internet access
11. Quality of High Speed Internet connection
12. Bath/shower drainage
13. Bath/shower water pressure
14. Ventilation
15. Cleanliness of bathroom
16. Bathroom lighting
17. Quality of bathroom amenities (soap, shampoo, etc.)
18. Working order of bathroom
19. Condition of bathroom

Who would ask me about Ventilation (question #14) or the condition of the Carpet (question # 4)??? If I tought the room was Dirty (question #2) then most of the other questions are going to be clicked just because I was ticked off about the dirty room. My room was perfectly clean by the way.

Hasn't anyone ever heard of drop down menus? If I think the room was 'dirty' then select a reason below, would be a much better option for a survey.

Below is my letter to back to Hilton:

Jeffrey Diskin
Senior Vice President - Brand Management
Hilton Hotels

I just received an email from your department asking if I would respond to an online survey because, "Your comments are very valuable to us."

I realize that this type of feedback can be extremely valuable so I went ahead and clicked on the link and proceeded to complete the survey. After spending almost 10 minutes and reading/clicking on over 10 pages of questions and look up and come to the painful notice that I am only HALF way done!

I am not quite sure Mr. Diskin what value your time is to you, but I can assure you that the value I bring to you as a customer wanes significantly after 10 minutes of questioning. Please be aware that it is not the survey itself that annoys me so greatly. It is the fact that a company with a department overseeing brand management allows it to happen. It brings to mind that if a business can be so oblivious that their survey generates more frustration than feedback, then what other aspects are also overlooked.

Here is my feedback to your department:

• Limit the survey to 1 page with 10-15 questions
• Don’t ask me 10 questions on the SAME THING – If I did not like even one thing about the ‘bathrooms’ then ALL of my responses will be the same (negative) on the same item and therefore repeated questioning won’t result in benefits
• Ask “Was the room clean” if NO then ask for comments or a drop-down box

Thank you,

Isaac Bowman

Manager of Technical Sales
American Express Business Travel
1-877-xxx-xxxx
www.isaacbowman.com